Thank you. Initially I wrote down "99% of the time" but then I was afraid it would have meant "99% del tempo", so I changed it to "99% of times" to translate "99% delle volte"... But I was wrong all the same!

Two conjunctions, "e", "o", and a preposition "a", allow the addition of a "d" to tie itself in better way to the word that follows it ("d") and which begins with vocal. But is it always necessary to write ed, od, ad ? I am giving you my personal suggestion: use the d when the initial vowel of the following word is the same one: a amare, ed europeo, od ottenere; not use it when the initial vowel of the following word is different: a esempio, e io, o anche ; not even use it when, also being the initial vowel of the following word the same one, there is near to it another "d" to avoid noise to the ear: a Andrea, e educato, o occhio. It is easy for obvious reasons that "a", "o"and, "a" without "d" follow the opposite rule.

I have a few questions concerning what's mentioned in the heading as well as a few others that have been bothering me these last few months that I have started to learn Italian.

As the rules are only one question per post, please check the subsequent posts I have made today in the Italian-English forum.

Allora, it is my understanding that for the words "e" ("and") and "a" ("to", etc.) it is possible to add the letter 'd' on the end of those if the next word begins with a vowel. My Italian teacher, who is English, says that it's not obligatory and that many Italians don't do it. I make a point of doing it always because, as a Greek speaker, I'm all about things like this (I make a point to add in a final ν when needed on masculine words in the same kind of situation). My other Italian teacher, who actually is Italian, is much more strict with this and I've heard her when speaking add the 'd'.

My question is: is it best to add the 'd' or is it something that a lot of Italians don't do? If I persist with it, will I sound too posh?

.... not use it when the initial vowel of the following word is different: a esempio, ....

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Same for me: I never add the 'd' if the following word begins with a different vocal, when I write for sure (I'm less conscious of my pronunciation in all of those cases, but since to my hear it sounds bit 'heavy', it's likely that I don't say it, either).

That said, an exception seems to be just the very common expression up there: ad esempio, not a esempio, because it's a form that is 'crystalllized', in our language (s. here, Accademia della Crusca).